


Silence

by thedrunkenwerewolf, Timewaster123456789



Series: Heirverse: Phase 4 (Heir/Decimated) [1]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Banter, Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Introspection, M/M, Night Terrors, Psychological Trauma, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-06-25 21:08:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19753843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedrunkenwerewolf/pseuds/thedrunkenwerewolf, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Timewaster123456789/pseuds/Timewaster123456789
Summary: Gin's most important conversations with Aizen rarely actually involved words.





	Silence

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing. TheDrunkenWerewolf owns Jac and the heirverse.
> 
> Written to 'Devil Within' by Digital Daggers, 'Battlefield' by SVRCINA (nightcore), 'I See You' by Missio.
> 
> Place in timeline: early Heir.

The smell of blood and decay filled his nose as he stood over his already decomposing kills. He laughed softly at his triumph, it was the only reaction he'd allow himself.

 _You've come far,_ the voice whispered _. Vengeance will be ours._ It was the closest thing to praise he'd heard in a long time. He sought out a section of floor relatively free of blood and gore, laid down a blanket and got ready to settle into his temporary confinement.

He heard groans around him and looked up to see the bodies rise from the floor. That was strange but he gave a bored sigh and smiled, anticipating the high of doing it all again even knowing what the come down would be like. The first few bodies fell only to rise again and he soon found himself surrounded, his blade began to have even less effect, going straight through them. He screamed his rage and they taunted him.

"Can't 'urt us."

"We're ghosts."

"What?" that made no sense the whole point of zanpakuto was that they worked on ghosts.

"You've already killed us," the bodies hissed over the moaning and shrieking of their compatriots.

"Then I'll kill you again," he snarled, raising his sword as fear creeped through his veins. They laughed and faded, the cackles and shrieks echoed in his ears

Then it was just him surrounded by dead bodies again. He got a split second to relax before the chamber turned pitch black, he tried to pace in the darkness but found a shield. It formed a box, two paces in every direction and a ceiling he could brush without extending his arm. Fine.

He tried every kido trick in the book and then Kyouka. Nothing worked he was well and truly trapped in the box, locked in the midst of his carnage with just the gibbering of ghostly voices in the silence. The light returned and it was a mass funeral, mourners wailed over the bodies and Aizen relaxed slightly despite still being in C46.

A smile of disgust twisted his lips at the idiots grieving such worthless...Gin's broken body flashed for a millisecond in the place of his victims, his moon's body baring the wounds of his victims. The image changed, Carlos and Maria replaced his fox and he heard Jac scream in rage as it quickly switched back to Gin. He stared transfix as the mutilated Gin bodies rose as one and intoned.

"You did this, you don't get to feel bad, you did this."

Aizen bolted upright panting and bit off a scream. Irrational fear beyond anything he'd felt since the Fisher fiasco suffused him, and he actually had to restrain himself from moving closer to Gin. Once he had himself under control, he reached over to double check that Gin was real and ok.

Aizen covered Gin's hand with his own and squeezed, trying not to do so too hard, reassuring himself again that Gin was real. Not that it mattered much Kyouka could make an illusion that you could touch, he didn't know for certain that Jac couldn't do the same.

For a moment he almost woke Gin to tell him about the dream, but the memory of burnt flowers rose in his mind, so vivid he could almost smell them and he decided against it. Gin put up with enough from him and it wasn't Gin's job to protect him. Besides he didn't want Gin to see him falter again, he was supposed to be proving his worth not the other way around

Having convinced himself Gin was alright, he rose and slid quickly from the room, he wasn't getting back to sleep anyway. As he walked through the halls he was again struck by how lucky he was and suppressed a shudder at the thought of having woken up from that alone. He would have managed, he always did but…he was grateful. Gin's presence made this stage of his plans an adventure rather than a short stay in hell.

He went to a corner of the ramparts and reveled in the quiet. He needed time to think. The dream—he suppressed another shudder—had clearly disturbed Jac. He was determined to find a way to use the memory of Carlos and Maria to his advantage. If nothing else it distracted him from the memories of blood, bodies and Gin's bloodied body superimposed on all of it. A bit anyway.

* * *

Gin woke groggily and reached over to…He came wide awake when he found his sun missing. He leaped from the bed, dressed and went looking for Aizen. He'd masked his reiatsu and even Gin, attuned as he was to it, couldn't sense him. That worried him, though he no longer kept such strict tabs on him, as a matter of courtesy Sousuke rarely masked himself. In exchange, Gin rarely actively sought him out when he wanted space.

He exited the bedroom into the throne room and checked Aizen's private study. Sound proofing kido warded it and he mostly only used it if Gin and Cherry were making a ruckus in the throne room. Gin was welcome to enter but he usually didn't, he suspected that Aizen hid there when the voice got bad. He found it empty though and moved his search to the library, only to find that empty as well. The only other person who used it being Ulquioraa, Syazel preferred computers and disdained 'dead trees' as he called them. None of the other arrancar were particularly intelligent, much less well read.

Eventually he found Aizen, standing motionless on the ramparts in the southeast corner of Las Noches. He was staring at the moon, untouched by the cold of the desert night.

Gin opened his mouth to ask what was wrong then closed it. He didn't want to be lied to and though Aizen tried…besides it wasn't fair of him to dig at raw nerves and barely healed wounds on the pretext of 'honesty'. The callousness, as much shield as sword, he could bear when necessary.

Aizen didn't acknowledge him but his jaw tightened with annoyance as though he knew Gin's thoughts and found them offensive. Gin wouldn't put it past him, though it could easily be his mere presence at the wrong time or even something completely unconnected to him. He sighed Sousuke could be…complicated.

Gin wondered if it was the voice getting up to its old tricks and looked up to ask but one glance at Sousuke's expression, hard as stone made him hold his tongue.

He observed the older man's profile a moment cold, indifferent and knew something was wrong. All the easy confidence he'd always admired was gone in exchange for an imperial arrogance he displayed for the arrancar. That wasn't like him it never looked like effort. What made the act so damn effective, he grimaced at that thought, was that it never looked like a front it always seemed as natural as breathing.

Gin felt his anger rise, they had agreed no more games. Even though that wasn't quite how the agreement went and Aizen hadn't actually lied. _Why are you doing this? It's just me,_ he wondered. Gin stepped forward to embrace his sun, whatever was eating him, Gin would try to help like he always had.

Aizen forestalled him with a raised palm, not even looking in his direction. He dropped his arms settled down on the cold stone walk, stung.

Aizen kept his eyes carefully on the moon, but Gin knew him well enough to catch embarrassment in the guarded look and tightened jaw. He knew that Gin knew something was wrong and was mad at himself for letting it show.

Gin instantly felt ashamed of his anger, with all their posturing for the Arrancar it was so easy to forget the horrors and insecurities that remained under his sun's arrogant veneer. He'd often wondered exactly why Aizen put such stock in his image but the closest he'd ever gotten to a straight answer was 'to avoid giving Jac leverage' which he knew wasn't the whole of it.

He and Aizen were different in a lot of ways. Gin raucous and mischievous, Aizen controlled and calculating. Most of the time at least, he grinned remembering some of their 'remember the Rukon' escapades. Gin got bored if he knew what the outcome would be, Aizen lived to control—perhaps manipulate was a better word —everything. He was emotional even if tried to hide it, Aizen—sober at least—was completely untouchable, with a couple of rare exceptions that Gin clung to the memory of like the gifts they were. One thing they had in common though was their fear of being alone. Aizen turned his head to look at him, their eyes met and if Sousuke's would have looked dead and soulless to anyone else, he could see gratitude in them.

Sousuke shrugged out of his long white coat and laid it over Gin, even though he was sure he'd given no sign of how cold he was. He smiled sheepishly and pulled it tight around him.

He saw something soft and skittish flicker in Sousuke's eyes before his lover turned back to the view.

Gin sighed and snuggled deeper in the fabric.

He woke with a start, Aizen was shaking his shoulder gently an apologetic look. Gin blinked away the sleep, waking slowly as always. He looked up feeling sheepish, took Aizen's offered hand and rose stiffly.

They walked back to their quarters, hand in hand and Gin quickly noticed that while Aizen wasn't technically avoiding his gaze, he wouldn't meet it either. Guilt or shame either way it got his radar pinging, he would definitely be keeping an eye peeled until he figured out what the hell was going on.

Aizen looked like he wanted to speak but just nodded. A guilty look crossed his face and Gin pressed closer, trying to snuggle while walking.

They followed the ramparts for a while. Gin could never understand why Aizen liked it up there, the darkness and dead air creeped him out. He took comfort in his lover's presence though and followed along quite contentedly. He caught Aizen's gaze wandering towards the desert, a manic, hunted look in his eyes.

Gin had seen look many times, had long associated it with the masterful moves that followed, Shinji and company, the slaughter of C46…more painful things. He'd long associated it with boredom and only a few months before holed up with dead bodies had he realized the truth. He'd missed so many things over the years.

Not boredom but panic, an animal desperate to escape and acting on it. If he was right in his assessment the sheer brilliance of the moves Aizen made while in that state were nothing short of impressive. Gin's decisions under such pressure were less than inspired to say the least. If his assessment was right Aizen's love of the ramparts took on a far darker undertone. Aizen looked at him and he realized that his grip on the man's hand had turned vice-like.

Aizen raised a questioning eyebrow at him and Gin noticed the subtle tremoring in the hand he held.

"I was just thinking I'm glad we're still here, together," Gin said, true enough and also a slight probe into his misgivings. Aizen gave him an odd look and pulled him closer as they continued on.

"Has anyone ever told you what a wonderful voice you have," Aizen said after a moment.

"Yeah, multiple times, shamelessly even," Gin joked.

Aizen smirked.


End file.
